Patience needed for Y2K Problems; may not show up for weeks, months

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Patience needed for Y2K Problems; may not show up for weeks, months

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) 1999 WorldNetDaily.com

Though most of the world rang in the new millennium with no appreciable or immediate ill-effects to computer systems, experts in the field warn that Y2K-related problems may not manifest themselves until days, weeks and months from now, with one estimate suggesting problems might even show up as late as a year from now, in 2001.

The Clinton administration's Y2K chief, John Koskinen, has already cautioned consumers to be on the lookout for possible computer glitches and outright failures at the start of business Monday morning. And the Gartner Group, a technology-consulting firm, has estimated that only 10 percent of all Y2K failures would occur during the first two weeks of January.

Despite the still-dour predictions, however, a recent Associated Press poll found that only 16 percent of respondents think Y2K problems will last more than two weeks. And the number who think the problems will be confined to less than a few days has increased from 22 percent to 36 percent.

Most Y2K planners are aware that Jan. 1 is no magic disaster date, and they fear a quiet weekend might leave the public with a false sense of security.

"There is too much focus on New Year's weekend," said Bruce McConnell, director of the International Y2K Cooperation Center. "If you think that the only time to worry about the Y2K bug is on Jan. 1, then you're underestimating the problem."

Besides new glitches appearing later in the year, glitches that strike on Jan. 1 might go unnoticed initially, even after employees return to work and restart computers. McConnell and others have said the full effects of these problems might not be felt until smaller glitches compound and begin to disrupt business supply chains.

In order to more accurately judge the Y2K-related computer problems, McConnell said, some patience is needed. After several weeks Y2K planners may finally have "a good idea just how big an event Y2K is."

Ron Weikers, a Philadelphia attorney specializing in Y2K litigation, warned companies not to declare victory right away. Such statements, he said, could come back to haunt them.

Nevertheless. New Year's Day weekend will be an important period for Y2K problems, and most major companies and government agencies will be watching their systems closely. Koskinen will be presiding over a $50 million crisis center built for this weekend.

Beyond Jan. 1, Koskinen said, most glitches will probably be administrative, causing inconveniences such as incorrect billing -- but no catastrophe. And they'll be more manageable because they won't hit all at once.

Koskinen and his team of Y2K managers and planners will also look for trouble on Feb. 29, because some computers might not recognize 2000 as a leap year. Similarly, Dec. 31, 2000, is a key date because some computers might not be expecting 366 days in the year.

In the Associated Press telephone poll, taken Dec. 15-19, 1,010 people most frequently mentioned concern over the nation's power supply, followed by banking and financial services, the transportation system, phone systems and food distribution. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Jon E. Dougherty is a staff writer for WorldNetDaily.

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@AOL.COM), January 01, 2000

Answers

FOCUS-France's Sautter urges vigilance over Y2K bug

http://www.pbs.org/reuters/articles/Y2K2/01_01_200 0.reulb-story-bcfrancebanks.html

PARIS, Jan 1 (Reuters) - French utilities and public services have survived the switch to 2000 without major problems but the rest of the economy must wait until Monday to be sure it is Y2K bug-free, the Finance Ministry said.

Finance Minister Christian Sautter, the government's point man for the Y2K problem, said he was not overly worried about possible glitches when France goes back to work on Monday, but urged companies not to drop their guard.

``There has been no January 1 bug but we must stay vigilant so that the following days do not lead to any unfortunate incidents,'' Sautter told a news conference.

Energy, defence, telecommunications, transport and health sectors were all functioning normally on Saturday with no major computing problems reported, the finance ministry said.

No hitches were reported by financial institutions, it said. But Sautter stressed that it remained to be seen how smaller companies' hardware systems would fare on Monday morning.

``The collective success of the main systems must let us hope that the small computer systems dispersed through our country will behave well, but we have to see how the national economy in all its diversity will restart,'' Sautter said.

News that computers were so far resisting the feared Y2K bug was a huge relief given last week's freak storms which flattened sections of France's power and telecommunications networks, leaving it worse-equipped to handle new problems, Sautter said.

``After the trials we've undergone with storms and pollution, it was very important that we didn't have a technological shock,'' he said, referring also to an oil spill off the west coast which has devastated the Atlantic shoreline.

The Bank of France said it had no reports of Y2K-related hitches in the nation's banking system. Basic computer systems, telecommunications and other logistics had been checked.

Major French companies unanimously reported a smooth switch to 2000, although many -- especially banks -- would be running tests and updating software over the weekend.

French oil refineries were also operating as usual, as were trains and hospitals.

A few minor glitches were nonetheless recorded in a handful of manufacturing sectors where computer systems functioned normally but showed errors in dates.

The glitches occurred in areas like the manufacture of calculators or biological analytic tests, a Finance Ministry spokeswoman said.

-- (not@now.com), January 01, 2000.


It will take alot of time for some things to show up. At least they will not all surface at one time.

-- Moore dinty Moore (dac@ccrtc.com), January 01, 2000.

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